"It's not my first rodeo, you know," Fox said. "I've been doing this for [29] years and [16] as a head coach, so this is par for the course in this league. I think there's a lot of different speculation every year, and this year is no different."

The 62-year-old had a similar dead-man-walking season in his final year in Carolina, in 2010. Fox's last year in Denver came after a 12-4 campaign, but another playoff loss, with the sides parting ways after the 2014 season.

Part of the insulated veteran coaching circle, Fox immediately received coaching jobs each of the previous two times he was let go. Perhaps the NFL's penchant for recycling bland coaches has Fox confident he can land a new job. The longtime leadman needs only to convince one owner that his career .522 record is more indicative of success than his terrible stint with a rebuilding Chicago squad.

"Has it been easy? I'd say no," Fox said when asked if the Bears were a bigger rebuild than he anticipated when signing. "We've gone from the oldest roster in football to one of the younger ones. We've got a good, young, talented roster. We still have holes. But at least, to me, we're on a level playing field now."

Come next week that leveled-out squad likely will be someone else's to lead. The bigger question for Bears fans heading into January is whether GM Ryan Pace will be the man hiring the next coach or if the team's ownership will sweep out the entire crew and start over again.